Why Digital Recordings Are Most Preferred For Audio Transcriptions

In this new age technological era, more and more people prefer digital recordings because of its ease of recording, storage and data transfer. Digital voice recording equipment converts the physical properties of original sound to a sequence of numbers, which can be stored and later read back for reproduction. They record sounds as data-bits the same way as a computer stores information. The sounds recorded in a digital recorder have a higher signal-to-noise ratio. Noise in this case refers to all background noises that can cause distortions in the recording. Analog recorders such as a tape cassette recorder, record sounds as waveforms. This ultimately reduces the quality of the analog recording when compared to a digital recording.

Transcription companies that provide audio transcription services have different rates based on the quality of the audio. Transcription is not an easy process. A transcriptionist has to repeatedly listen to an audio to accurately transcribe the audio to text. If the audio quality is poor, the effort of the transcriptionist is more and this will ultimately reflect in the prices charged by the transcription provider.

Digital recordings are also easier to copy and manipulate as compared to analog recordings. Also in case of tape recordings, the sound quality deteriorates with each subsequent copy made. But the digital audio recording can be duplicated as many times as required without any change in quality.

Digital audio is also advisable if you need to transcribe only part of an audio. For instance if you need only 20 minutes of an hour long audio file to be transcribed, you can just remove the unnecessary parts of the audio from your digital recording and send only the required sound clip to your transcriber for transcription. When an audio is recorded using a Digital recorder, the audio file can be compressed to reduce the file size. It can also directly be uploaded on your computer and directly sent to your transcription provider. Digital recordings can be saved in a variety of formats like MP3, MP4, WAV, WMA, AVI etc.

MPEG-1 Audio Level 3 or MP3 as it is commonly known is the most popular digital recording format used for transcriptions. MP3 files compress and filter out the sounds that human ear cannot hear, eventually reducing the file size. MP3 is also well compatible with most of the portable digital audio players and many DVD players.

Normally transcription companies are able to transcribe audio faster when they are in the MP3 format. This is because they do not have to spend any time converting the audio file into MP3. This will lower the turnaround time and to a certain extent, the prices.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com